Key Highlights

  • Rajasthan Police busted an interstate gang stealing high-tension power cables worth Rs 5-6 crore, arresting 12 accused.
  • Thefts occurred along a 103 km stretch of the 765 kV D/C Sikar-II to Narela transmission line by PowerGrid Wataman Transmission Ltd.
  • Vehicles including a Thar, car, pickup truck and two motorcycles were seized, along with two iPhones bought using stolen cable proceeds.
  • The operation was carried out by DST Sikar and Sadar Neem Ka Thana police under SP Praveen Nayak Noonawat's direction.
  • Police say the gang has confessed to involvement in dozens of theft incidents; investigation into buyers and associates is ongoing.

Rajasthan Police have cracked open one of the most significant power infrastructure crime operations in recent memory, busting an interstate gang allegedly involved in stealing high-tension power cables worth an estimated Rs 5-6 crore. Twelve members of the gang were arrested in a joint operation carried out by the District Special Team (DST), Sikar, and the Sadar Neem Ka Thana police — bringing to light a systematic assault on one of India's critical transmission projects.

The Recoveries: Vehicles, Handsets and a Trail of Evidence

The scale of the seizures gives a strong indication of just how organised the operation was. Vehicles allegedly used in the thefts — including a Thar, a car, a pickup truck and two motorcycles — were recovered from the accused. Two iPhones, reportedly purchased with proceeds from the stolen cables, were also seized. That mix of high-utility crime vehicles and premium personal purchases sketches the picture of a gang that had turned cable theft into a fully monetised, near-professional enterprise.

103 Kilometres of Transmission Line Under Attack

Superintendent of Police Praveen Nayak Noonawat said the accused have confessed to stealing cables along approximately 103 kilometres of the 765 kV D/C Sikar-II to Narela transmission line, currently being developed by PowerGrid Wataman Transmission Limited. The thefts occurred within the jurisdiction of Sadar Neem Ka Thana and Dabla police stations. That's not a one-off crime spree — it's a systematic, geographically distributed assault on a piece of national infrastructure being built to support high-voltage power evacuation.

The accused have admitted involvement in dozens of cable theft incidents, indicating that this operation may have been running for months and possibly affected other projects in the region as well.

The Anatomy of the Crackdown

The crackdown itself was a textbook example of coordinated policing. It was carried out under the direction of SP Praveen Nayak Noonawat following instructions from Rahul Prakash, Inspector General of Police, Jaipur Range. Police teams supervised by Additional SP (Neem Ka Thana) Lokesh Meena and Circle Officer Sushil Maan analysed CCTV footage, monitored suspects and used technical intelligence to piece together the gang's movements and identify their base of operations.

That layered use of digital surveillance, manual patrolling and human intelligence has become a signature of Rajasthan Police's approach to organised infrastructure crime in the state.

The Complaint That Kicked It Off

The case began on August 9, 2026, when Dipankar Debnath, Assistant Manager at Skipper Limited, Neemkathana, filed a complaint reporting thefts of conductors, wires and other transmission-line material from four sites between July 11 and August 6. That single complaint set in motion the sequence of inspections, tracking and intelligence gathering that ultimately led to the identification and arrest of 12 suspects.

The Accused

The arrested accused include Dheeraj Bagadiya (26), Mohit Jakhar (20), Lokesh Mehraniya (20), Vijay Kumar Mehraniya (20), Sachin Kumar Saini (19), Deepak Meena (23), Rahul Yadav (21), Hanuman Meena alias Abhi (19), Jagdish Bawariya (38), Monu Jat, Himanshu Nayak (19) and Sunil Gurjar (24). The demographic mix — mostly young men in their late teens and early twenties — reveals a worrying pipeline of youth being pulled into infrastructure-linked organised crime, often under the guise of quick cash-flow opportunities.

Why It Matters

Cable theft may sound like a routine property crime, but its consequences are far more severe than they appear on the surface. High-tension cables from active or under-construction transmission lines represent both a public safety hazard and a national economic risk. Every stolen kilometre of cable can delay grid stabilisation, drive up project costs and stretch power evacuation timelines — with downstream impact on industries, households and macroeconomic productivity.

The 765 kV Sikar-II to Narela line, being developed by PowerGrid Wataman Transmission Limited, is precisely the kind of high-value asset targeted by organised gangs looking to convert copper and other conductor material into black-market cash quickly.

Industry Impact

For India's power transmission sector, this bust is a wake-up call — and simultaneously a validation of the value of on-ground project security. Companies operating high-voltage transmission networks are increasingly investing in physical security, drone surveillance, real-time monitoring systems and community-informant networks. Cases like this one are likely to accelerate that investment further, particularly along rural stretches of ultra-high-voltage lines that are historically harder to monitor round-the-clock.

The Investigation Ahead

Police have made it clear that the arrests are only the beginning. Further interrogation is expected to shed light on dozens of suspected high-tension wire thefts and the gang's wider network. Investigators are tracing where the stolen cables were sold or disposed of, identifying buyers and associates, and probing possible links to other property-related crimes. The search for additional suspects continues.

The Bigger Picture

The Rajasthan Police bust is more than a routine crackdown on a theft ring. It's a reminder that India's infrastructure story runs on physical assets that cannot be left to fend for themselves. As the country accelerates its push towards renewable evacuation corridors and high-voltage grid modernisation, protecting these assets from organised crime becomes as critical as building them. In taking down 12 accused, recovering key vehicles, and unmasking a 103-km theft trail, Rajasthan Police haven't just closed a case — they've reinforced a message: infrastructure crime, no matter how quietly it operates, will be traced, tracked and shut down.